In Focus

I received some troubling news last week about my dog Java. She is a mix of Great Dane, Great Pyrenees and German Shepherd, so she is a pretty big dog. She is the second oldest of my three pooches at 12 and a half years old.About two weeks ago she hurt her rear left leg and began to limp and rarely put pressure on it. We took her to the vet and they were not completely sure what was going on. They gave her some meds to see if it would work. She hated to use the stairs. She has to go down three stairs to use the doggie door to go outside. When we would get her down there she would stay outside until we fetched her because she did not want to go back up the stairs. Early last week she did a running jump up the stairs and injured the leg again in the process and refused to put any pressure on her leg and held it up while walking. We have been alternating between ice and heating pads on her leg to help relieve the swelling and the pain. She loves it.Last Thursday she went back to the vet and we found out she has bone cancer in that leg. The cancer had greatly weakened the bone and in her fight with the stairs, she broke her leg. The leg cannot be fixed. On Monday she will go back to the vet to ensure the cancer is just in her leg and if it is, she will have surgery to amputate the leg and keep the cancer from spreading. If it is in her lungs then we will have to make the difficult and humane decision to let her go. I am not ready for this.She is my second dog to have a form of cancer. Nala, my oldest dog is 15 years old. Three years ago, she had a cancerous tumor growing on her side and another one was discovered inside. We decided to give her a fighting chance and had the tumors surgically removed. Today, she may be old but she is doing fine. She has some arthritis in her hips and some trouble getting up or going up the stairs, but that is because she is old. You can’t put a price tag on these extra years with her. It has been well worth it.So why would I deny Java the same chance? Many animals do fine with three limbs. Like Nala, I believe we will have many more years with Java. Minus some dental problems, she has been a very healthy dog. My pets are a part of my family and we will do everything possible for her.Java has been sleeping on my bedroom floor. She gets tucked into her blanket with her heating pad on her leg. She is on a lot of pain medication to get her through this weekend and she doesn’t have a lot of energy. I bring her a bowl of water and wet food to eat. She wakes us up in the morning when it’s time for her medication with an annoyed growl, signaling she is starting to feel pain. I sat on my bedroom floor with her at night and she rests her head on my lap. I pet her until she falls asleep and pray that she will be ok.This has happened so quickly that I haven’t had time to digest all of it. It has been a long and emotional weekend and I am hoping that Monday will bring good news and that she will be able to come back home. I am not ready to lose her.